Drivers side ehaust leak

[Pete Rock98]

I have a bad exhaust leak from the drivers side any TIPS on how to change the exhaust manifold gasket I tried to tighten up all the the bolts first there were all tight.My car has long tubes headers I reused the stock gaskets which are 13 yrs old and now I brought new oem gaskets .

[chris1974]

Unfortunatly, by the time header gaskets start leaking, it's usually too late to tighten them and get them to seal right.

When putting new gasket on, start the front & rear bolt, then just hang the gasket in place on those 2 bolts. Go slow, take your time and tighten from inner to outer bolts on the manifolds.

[SMWS6TA]

^^^

This. Also remember anti-seize lube or you'll be next time you need to remove the header bolts.

[Pete Rock98]

Ok thanks

[chris1974]

I would probably use a torque wrench on the bolts too. It would suck to strip out a bolt hole, or twist the head off of a bolt.

[FinZ28]

Might I also suggest locking header bolts?

[Pete Rock98]

Whats the tq specs ? I brought the up-dated gm header bolts the head is looks like a 12 mm compared to the stock 10 mm

[Pete Rock98]

I heard the locking header bolts are tough to uninstall due to those half moon clips .